


Wherever We Go, We Go Together, But Not This Time.

by XxDecipheringGravityFallsxX



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: A sorrowful goodbye, Angst, Gravity Falls - Freeform, Gravity Falls Oneshot, Gravity Falls What If Scenario, Stangts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 20:49:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15781854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxDecipheringGravityFallsxX/pseuds/XxDecipheringGravityFallsxX
Summary: Stanley and Stanford Pines have a motto "Wherever We Go, We Go Together." However this is not the case this time. In this What If Scenario I present the idea of Ford going into the portal willingly to hunt down Bill. But before he does so he has one last thing he must do before he leaves. To say goodbye to his brother Stanley.





	Wherever We Go, We Go Together, But Not This Time.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one-shot What if Scenario. This is a what If idea that popped into my head a few hours ago. What if Ford went into the portal willingly to hunt Bill down, and he called Stan up to not only hide the journal but to say goodbye to Stan too. I’m really scared that I kinda screwed up in this One-Shot but then I realized that what happens here makes total sense given Stan and Ford’s characters. 
> 
> I do believe that this is most likely what would have happened if Ford willingly entered the portal. At the end of the day, I’m certain Ford wouldn’t want to just leave without telling Stan goodbye and that he’d atleast attempt to fix things between them. 
> 
>  
> 
> Ford obviously still cared for Stan and trusted Stan enough to call him to help him with the Journal. So I would think that Ford would finally open back up to Stan, especially in a situation like this. Because of how emotional it would be for the both of them.  
> Anyways I hope that, that explanation allows you to see this actually happening as I do. Because when it comes right down to it I am certain Ford wouldn’t have ever gone through the portal without saying goodbye to Stan first. 
> 
> Also on a smaller note, I gave Stanley his mother’s middle name for his middle name, I dunno why I just did.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it feel free to leave kudos, and please do let me know what you think of it by leaving comment! I was very excited while writing it and am eager to know what people think~~~  
>  
> 
> Anyways here we go, onto the actual one-shot itself!
> 
> -  
> -  
> -

Stanley couldn’t believe what he was hearing, what the Hell was Poindexter thinking? Going through this portal was pure madness, how could his brother even be sure what awaited him on the other side? He clutched the Journal in his right hand as he watched Stanford take a few steps away from him. “Sixer-”

 

 

 

 

Ford didn’t turn around but he put up a hand in a gesture for silence, “Stanley please...I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to go through the portal and fix my mistake. I must hunt Bill Cipher down, and end his tyranny to atone for my sins. This fault is mine and mine alone, Stanley.” 

 

  
  
The expression upon Stan’s face quickly became a scowl. “Stanford Filbrick Pines!” He blurted out without restraint, as he marched over and used his left hand to forcefully turn Ford around to face him.  

 

 

 

“You really think you’re gonna go on some dangerous quest to find a demonic triangle that possesses the power to screw over dimensions with the snap of his fingers- all alone?” 

 

 

 

His right hand would be curled into a fist if it wasn’t clutching the Journal. The knuckles on both of his hands turned white due to how harshly he was gripping the Journal and his brother’s shoulder. 

 

  
  
Ford stared deeply into Stan’s eyes and could see past his fury, he could pinpoint the deep rooted sorrow within them. Ford sighed heavily, and gently pushed Stan away from him. “Stanley please, this is hard enough for me as it is---”

 

 

“Oh yeah right! Like it was **SO HARD** for you to watch me leave when dad kicked me out?!” Stan’s words rang out into the air before he realized what he had just said. 

 

 

His tone was laced with vitriol, and the raw emotional power behind it was so overwhelming that it caused both of them to flinch and stiffen for a few seconds. 

 

 

The silence that crashed down upon them was suffocating, and neither of them dared to speak as they locked gazes with each other. After a minute marched by a gruff and rigid laughter erupted from Stan as he dropped the Journal to the floor. He gripped at his biceps and his eyes began to glisten with unshed tears, his gaze fell from Ford and to the floor.  

 

 

Ford stared in bewilderment, taken aback by this sudden shift in his brother’s emotional state. He didn’t know what he should do, for once in his life his big brain didn’t have an answer for him. 

 

 

He took a deep breath and let his instincts take over, he took a timid step forward and reached out his right hand to place it comfortingly on Stan’s shoulder-

 

 

 

 

**SMACK---**

 

 

 

 

The noise boomed in an echo throughout the basement. Under normal circumstances a smack wouldn’t sound so forceful. Yet due to the silence and the large area of the basement the sound was amplified. 

 

 

Ford could feel the top of his right hand burning and stinging with newfound pain. It took him a few seconds to register that Stan had slapped his hand away, and rejected his attempt at comforting him. 

  
  
“JUST LIKE IT WAS SO HARD FOR YOU TO THINK, FOR EVEN A SECOND THAT WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOUR PROJECT WAS AN ACCIDENT! JUST LIKE IT WAS SO HARD FOR YOU TO SHUN ME FOR THE BETTER PART OF TEN YEARS! JUST LIKE IT WAS SO HARD FOR YOU TO BURN THIS MARK INTO MY DAMN SHOULDER- WHILE WE WERE FIGHTING!” Stan couldn’t control his words as they escaped his vocal cords, it was as if someone turned on a faucet and his words were the flowing water that surged out of it. He wasn’t able to shut down his volatile tirade.  

 

 

Ford stood there in somewhat of a daze, as he made no attempts to even defend himself from this onslaught of verbal accusation. For everything his brother said was the cold and harsh truth. Everything Stan was accusing him of had been all too easy for him.  

 

 

It was easy for him to just assume Stanley had broken his project and never given it another thought, it had been easy enough to just forget Stan existed for the ten years they hadn’t spoke, and it had been easy to kick him, and although by complete accident, and burn a brand mark into his shoulder.

 

 

It hadn’t been until after Stan had punched him, that Ford finally cracked and told Stan everything and about why he needed Stan to hide the Journal and to tell him the real reason he had called him up. He wanted to try and fix things between them...he knew that there was a high probability that he’d never return.  

 

 

So, this was his final chance to fix what happened between the two of them, sure he had been furious at Stan when he had left. Yet, Ford couldn’t bring himself to just vanish out of the lives of his family without bidding them a farewell.

 

 

Even though he hadn’t had much contact with any of them over the course of a few years, he wasn’t that cruel to vanish without a trace and leave them in the dark. Also, the fact of the matter was, is that he didn’t want to leave things between himself and Stanley so bitter and broken.  

 

 

If Ford was going to vanish and never return, then he wanted Stan’s last memory of him to be a positive one rather than a negative one.

 

 

This was his last chance to fix it.  

 

 

Now here they were, at the precipice of either disaster or forgiveness.  

 

 

And Ford could only hope for the latter and not the former.  

 

 

The moment Stan paused with his merciless rebuke to take a breath, Ford spoke up without giving him any chance to continue on.

 

 

“Stanley Romanoff Pines!” Ford spoke firmly, yet at the same time there was a hidden timbre of gentleness to it, strange it was to use his brother’s full name in such a manner yet he knew it had to be done to capture his full attention.

 

 

Despite everything Stan was his twin and he loved him. No matter what happened he could never come to hate Stanley. It wasn’t until now that he realized that Stan could very well believe that he hated him.

 

 

So, if Ford wasn’t able to hunt down Bill and fail and failed to rectify his mistake of constructing the portal then he could at least rectify the mistake he regretted the most.

 

 

Pushing Stanley away.  

 

 

One would assume that the largest regret he’d ever have was the construction of the portal. Yes, that was a big regret he was sure to carry with him until the day he died. But it was only second to how much shame that boiled within him because of the way he treated his own brother.  

 

 

Brothers were supposed to love and care for each other and always have each other’s backs. Stan always had his back...but Ford... Ford had failed at being a brother. 

 

 

Their father was wrong, Stan wasn’t the screw up, Ford was. He had forgotten to love and cherish his brother while he had time and now...there wasn’t any time left to do so.  

 

 

“You’re right.” 

 

 

Stan’s eyes widened as those damaging words slipped past his brother’s mouth. The unshed tears that had since been gathering in his eyes began to roll down his cheeks. 

 

 

He sucked in a shaky breath, let it linger in his lungs and then released it. He released his grip around his arms and then curled his arms around his body and hugged himself tightly.

 

 

“So that’s it that’s all you have to---” 

 

 

“Lee.” 

 

Stan shuddered, Ford hadn’t called him Lee in such a long time. The last time he could remember Ford calling him Lee is when their father had beaten him so brutally that he had slipped into a state of being comatose for a week. 

 

-

-

-

-

-

 

 

Stan could remember it as if it were only yesterday, though he couldn’t remember the exact circumstances of why their father had beaten him.

 

 

All he could recall was the sheering agony that coursed through his body like a Viper’s venom. They were in their Junior Year of High school, Stan could only assume that perhaps their father had beaten him over his lackluster grades.

 

 

The day had been sweltering, temperatures were well above one hundred degrees. Stan remembered vaguely that he and Ford had trekked down to the beach to go swimming to cool off. 

 

 

They didn’t bother taking their clothes off and just swam in the water fully clothed, they also set aside an hour or two to work on the Stan O’War. Then five hours into their day of swimming and hard work in the sun, their father’s car screeched into the parking spot near the beach.

 

 

Their father marched down and he yanked Stan out of the water by the back of his shirt collar, causing him to sputter on some water and then gag and gasp as he was being hauled into the sand. He had felt himself slammed down into the burning hot sand and then... his memory became hazy.  

 

 

Then all he knew was agony, and all he heard were the screams of his father and the words of abuse being spat at him. All of them words he had heard before. Failure, loser, a shame to the Pines Family. Then during the haze of it all, he could hear Ford crying out his name and could hear him pleading for their father to stop.

 

 

He wasn’t able to catch everything but what he did catch he remembers vividly above all else.

__

 

 

_“No! Stop dad please---”_

 

 

 

_“STAY OUT OF THIS STANFORD, HE’S GOTTA LEARN THAT HE CAN’T---”  
_

 

 

_“But you can’t just do this to him! Please don’t hurt him---”  
_

 

 

_“I’M YOUR FATHER, I CAN DO WHATEVER I PLEASE WITH THE BOTH OF---”  
_

 

_“Please stop! Stop! Don’t hurt Stan! Don’t hurt him anymore!”_

 

  
  
  
“GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME BOY! BEFORE I GIVE YOU A SLUGGIN---” 

 

 

_“Stop! Stop! You can hit me! You can! Just stop hurting him, stop hurting Stan! You’re gonna kill---”  
_

 

 

_“FILBRICK PINES, WHAT IN HEAVENS ARE YOU DOING TO OUR LITTLE STANLEY?!”  
_

 

 

 

Ah yes, their mother had been there too. Stan didn’t know what would have happened if she hadn’t intervened and hadn’t stopped Filbrick from his physical assault. Stan could only imagine that he probably would have perished by the hands of his father that day.  

 

 

 

After their mother had arrived, Stan’s mind was captured in a fog of being half aware and half senselessness. Despite that he could recollect the sound of Ford’s desperate voice and the arguing voices of their parents.

 

 

 

Stan remembered he had opened his eyes just a fraction to stare up at Ford, his brother was hovering over him. Alas, Stan’s vision was obscured by blood and the fact he was drifting in and out of consciousness.

 

 

 

_“Stan! Stan! Come on bro! Say something!”_

 

 

 

He could feel Ford’s unsteady and trembling six fingered hands press against his cheeks.  

 

 

 

_“Please, Stanley!”_

 

 

 

Then he could feel wet splatters against his face. Even though Stan was disorientated and barely holding on to conciousness he knew Ford had been crying. 

 

_“St-Stan...please...”_

 

 

 

It was obvious then that Ford didn’t realize that Stan’s eyes were indeed open. Stan would have laughed that is if he hadn’t been in so much pain. For all Ford’s genius, he hadn’t acted too bright.

 

 

 

If Ford would have taken the time to slow down and check for a heartbeat he would have known Stan was still alive. Though Stan couldn’t really blame him, he too would have panicked like this if it were the other way around. 

 

  
  
  
_“M’okay...Poindexter...”  
_

 

 

Those were the only words he had managed to choke out before he had faded into the darkness.

 

 

 

The last sounds he heard were of Jersey City Medical Center paramedics rushing down the beach towards them, the voice of their father interrupting their mother to explain what happened, Stan would later come to learn that his father had lied, and said a gang had jumped him and Ford and Stan protected Ford from them. And finally, the very last thing he heard was Ford sobbing and begging.

 

 

 

_“NO! NO! STANLEY! STANLEY! DON’T- YOU CAN’T--- DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES! PLEASE! STANLEY! STANLEY! LEE---”_

 

 

 

-

-

-

-

-

 

 

The memory of the last time Ford called him Lee shattered, as he felt Ford’s hands on his shoulders. He opened his eyes, unaware of when he had closed them in the first place, and gazed dismally at his brother.

 

 

 

It would be appropriate to compare Ford to a wilted flower. For the first time since arriving, Stan noticed how unkempt Ford was. How bloodshot his eyes were and the dark circles underneath them. 

 

 

 

His brother looked as though he had aged much more in the ten years they hadn’t seen each other. Not only that, he looked as though he was about to just drop from exhaustion.

 

 

 

 

“Stanford-” Stan couldn’t finish because Ford cut him off.

 

 

 

 

“Lee please, I need you to listen to me- this is something I must do for the greater good for our Universe.” Ford spoke, his voice low and as gentle as possible. He had to make Stan understand that he had no choice. Ford had to at least try to slay Bill, that way he couldn’t bring his destruction to their Universe.  

 

 

 

 

Stan narrowed his eyes and huffed out in a choked-up manner, “What about me, huh? Am I not part of this ‘greater good?!’ you’re preaching about?” He swallowed back a sob and averted his gaze, no longer giving his brother the pleasure of seeing him lament.

 

 

 

 

“Stanley for the sake of---” Ford’s voice rose an octave, and he instantly regretted it the moment Stan shuddered. Ford promptly halted himself and sucked in a sharp breath. He exhaled slowly, and then continued as his flash of momentary exasperation dissipated.  

 

 

 

 

“Lee I... I’m sorry... for what happened between us. However, none of this will matter if I don’t stop that demon. I’m only trying to protect the Universe, our family and you from my mistakes. Please just let me go, Lee...just let me become a bad memory.”

 

 

 

 

 

“BUT I DON’T WANT TO LET YOU GO, DAMN IT STANFORD! YOU’RE MY BROTHER AND I LOVE YOU! DON’T YOU KNOW THAT?!” Stan's body heaved with a pained sob as he brought up his hands and gripped his brother by his shoulders. “WHY CAN’T YOU JUST SHUT THE DAMN THING DOWN!? WON’T THAT CUT OFF THE CONNECTION?”

 

 

 

 

Ford felt as though he had been shot in the chest with a shotgun, and some cruel bastard was still shoving the bullet even further into his chest after the initial shot. He could feel his own eyes begin to form tears.  

 

 

 

 

“I...I know Stanley... I know.”

 

 

 

 

He blinked in rapid succession to clear the tears away and shook his head. “Even if I do shut it down there’s always a slim chance Bill could find his way into our Universe. He’d destroy everything Stanley, and I can’t take that risk. I can’t let anyone else suffer because of me. I can’t let... I can’t let you suffer because of me. You’ve already done enough suffering for the past ten years because of me...”

 

 

 

Ford could feel his composure waning, if he didn’t go now he wasn’t going to be able to go. “Damn it Stanley please, I beg of you just let me go! If Bill ever gets loose in our dimension then the first thing he’d do is go after my family. He’d go after you and-!” 

 

 

 

 

“Then let me come with you!” Stan interjected, his voice hoarse but demanding.

 

  

 

 

Ford shook his head rapidly in protest. “I’m sorry Stanley, but you cannot follow me, I can’t risk you getting hurt.” Why did his brother have to be so stubborn? Couldn’t he see he just wanted to keep him safe from the wrath of a merciless demon?

 

 

 

 

“Whatever happened to wherever we go, we go together, huh bro?” Stan’s voice was gripped with desperation. “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT STANFORD?!”

 

 

 

 

Ford closed his eyes and realized there was only one thing he could do. The longer the duration that the portal remained open the more chance that Bill would take this opportunity to slip through. 

 

 

 

A higher dimensional guardian must be watching over them, otherwise Bill would have already come through. “Lee... I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arms around Stan and gave him a hug.  

 

 

He was certain that this hug would be their last, so he made sure to pour every ounce of brotherly love into it. He wanted nothing more than to tell Stan that he loved him, but he was terrified if he did that, then he wouldn’t be able to walk away. No, he knew for certain if he did then there would be no way he could. This was for the best...he was doing this all for the Universe.

 

 

“But not this time.”

 

 

Ford tore himself away from Stan and then raised up a fist and socked Stan as hard as he could against his face, sending his brother stumbling back. He had only done this so that Stan would be too shocked to follow after him. He watched Stan fall on his back against the floor. He could see blood trickling out of Stan’s nose and the stunned looked upon Stan’s face.  

 

 

“Please...try to forget about me.” With those parting words Ford turned heel and dashed towards the portal, he could hear Stan calling out for him, pleading for him.  

 

 

“NO! DON’T! SIXER! WAIT--- PLEASE! FORD---! FORD! STANFORD!”

 

 

 

 

 

And then Ford was on the other side, and the connection was severed. There was no way for him to go back even if he wanted to and to be honest he wanted to. 

 

 

He wanted to go back more than anything. 

 

 

But he had sealed his fate, and he had no choice but to follow through with his decision.

 

 

That last heartbroken wail of his name from Stanley would haunt Ford for the next thirty years.  


End file.
